This is my yappy place. Sometimes I share my workshop experiences in jewelry-making; sometimes I talk about other things that interest me. I have created tabs along the top of my blog (next to the word home, below this msg) so you can select certain categories if you like.

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Monday, March 14, 2016

The Cost of Destash

I was going to bid on something in a Facebook destash group the other day. It was a $5 item. I was ready to place my bid and then I checked shipping.It was $3.50.I know that the actual postage for that item would be $2.54.Something inside of me balks at paying an extra dollar to ship something that is an inexpensive destash item. I hear lots of destash sellers bemoan that they still have handling costs and need to be recouped. I'm going to disagree (mind you, this is all personal opinion, nothing more).

It's destash so the packaging doesn't have to be fancy. When I ship my own jewelry, I do use nice new jewelry boxes, ribbons, tissue, bubble wrap, etc. But destash items can usually be shipped with bubble wrap and/or recycled bubble wrap, recycled jewelry boxes, folded cardboard taped closed, etc.

You just aren't going to get me to pay 70% of the item's price for shipping/handling.

The other day I shared my sources for low cost new supplies (again, you can go recycled for about zero cost). My total for brand new bubble mailer and brand new cardboard 3x3 jewelry box is $0.42 (see below for my sources).

My logic as a seller of destash items says: "I'd rather suck up the $0.42 postage on every single transaction and make 100 times the transactions as some of my fellow destashers." After talking with many destash buyers, I see a lot of them agree with me that shipping costs above the bare minimum often dissuade them from initiating a transaction. In other words, if they see you tacking on $1-2 dollars in "handling" costs, they walk on by. These are generally really low-priced items we're talking about... most can't justify paying $4 to ship a $2 item.

In the end we all have to do business the way that works best for us. And through experience, I have learned that I'm much better off selling 95% of my destash and making less profit per transaction than selling 40% of my destash with a little profit padding. BTW, if you do want to keep some new shipping supplies on hand for when you run out of recycled packaging, here are my sources. The costs shown include shipping.I have Amazon Prime so these bubble mailers come out to $0.12 each: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000GHXWI4

We destash everything related to jewelry making (tools, beads, findings, books, displays, etc). I pretty much list my destash items at garage sale prices. After all, I'm trying to get rid of things so I can get more things. :-)

4 comments:

Excellent blog and very accurate. I have passed on most all items I wanted due to increased shipping. I myself have no used supplies so mine are all new mailers but still I charge exact shipping. And throw in extras...because I can and it makes me feel good.

I buy a lot of destash from many different sites. Most of the time I am satisfied. Shipping can be an issue especially if the item is very cheap. I feel that some vendors could keep their price down by cutting back on packaging. I really don't expect to get a few destash beads in organza bags and boxes with tissue etc. Just wrap them in some bubble wrap. If it is delicate, sure take a little more time but most things can just be wrapped in bubble wrap. The other thing that I have learned is to check the retail cost. Today I was considering buying some bracelet bars from a vendor. I checked a retail vendor and they were 1.00 cheaper So do your research and you can find some great deals